


We Didn't Start the Fire

by sleep_incarnate



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Cooking, F/F, burning food, time to board the smallest kayak
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 09:45:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10659978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleep_incarnate/pseuds/sleep_incarnate
Summary: Selena gains something after a kitchen fire.





	We Didn't Start the Fire

Selena entered the castle mess hall to start the dinner shift for the day. Despite what many in the army would say, Selena saw herself as the best chef that graced the land. Sure, Peri could cook gourmet meals from scratch in the time it took Selena to chop an onion, and Jakob’s skill with tea was unmatched by most, but she put her blood, sweat, and tears into everything she did. That’s what made her the best. The kitchen was well stocked with equipment and food for both Nohrian and Hoshidan dishes, something Corrin made sure of when he united their nations.

“Let’s see, we had that...what was it? My-so? Miso soup?” Whatever it was, Selena wasn’t fond of how weird the thing tasted. ‘These idiots wouldn’t know good food if I forced it in ‘em.’ Selena scanned the book of recipes the army kept. Some were standard, but some were home recipes donated by various soldiers with often mixed results for what was served. A donated recipe for creamy bear meat stew caught her eye. ‘For someone as into the country as Mozu,’ Selena thought,  ‘she has surprisingly rich taste.’ A crashing sound suddenly came from the front of the mess hall, followed by a feminine yell of annoyance. “Oh no, not again!” The voice cried out.

Selena arrived to the front and saw a familiar site: Felicia cleaning up what was the remains of the eighth broken plate this week. “Need any help?”

Felicia jumped, startled from Selena’s voice. “Oh, I didn’t see you were in here Selena! Um, I’m fine. I wouldn’t be a good maid of I didn’t clean up messes!”

“Hate to break it to you, but you’re not really a good maid. Isn’t that what you said yesterday after you spilled tea on me?”

Felicia’s face went pink in embarrassment. “I-well, I mean,” She stammered, looking for any way out of the conversation to no avail.

“What’re you even doing here? The kitchen’s got enough plates, so there’s no reason for you to collect them yet.”

Dusting herself off, Felicia stood up finally. “Um, Lord Corrin requested that we start pairing people up during duties to-what did he say? ‘Better bridge the gap’? Um, so, I’ve been assigned to help in the kitchen.” She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. “I apologize in advance.”

While Selena wasn’t opposed to having a second set of hands, the fact that it was Felicia who owned that second pair made cooking even simple meals into a challenge. She shuddered as she remembered the horrors the last time the maid was on cooking duty. The poor raspberries never stood a chance to the inferno she’d caused. Still, putting her in charge of cutting and collecting ingredients shouldn’t cause too many issues, right? Not wanting to waste anymore time, Selena returned to the kitchen, Felicia following close behind.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Felicia: you’ve got a track record for not doing the best in the kitchen, so you’re just gonna get me anything I need.” Selena spied one of Felicia’s daggers strapped in her sleeve.  “You’re good with knives, right?”

“Well, throwing them, sure.” Her face grew more happy. “If you want me to chop stuff up, I guess I could do that! I promise, Selena, I won’t be useless today!”

“Sure, whatever. Now here,” Selena passed Felicia a bouquet of dill, “get started on these herbs. I swear, Subaki preaches perfection, but he barely uses spices.”

The pair worked in silence, save for the rhythmic sounds of chopping from Felicia. Selena mentally praised herself for being smart enough to keep her away from any flames. ‘I guess if she’s just using knives, this could go pretty well!’ What she hadn’t noticed until now, however, was that her small supply of cream was dwindling. “Shoot. Hey, Felicia, watch the pots, okay? I need to run and grab one more bottle of cream for the sauce.” Before she went into the back room, Selena turned to Felicia to give a word of warning. “Remember: Don’t. Touch. Any. Fire.” Felicia gave a nod of understanding as Selena began to search the back for any bottles.

It hadn’t even been a minute before Felicia’s panicked voice rang through the kitchen. “AH! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Um, shoot, ice magic can stop this, right?”

Selena left the stash of cream and sprinted back to the kitchen. Her eyes widened in shock at the small fire engulfing the pot of sauce on the stove. “I thought I told you not to touch anything!” Felicia’s ice magic had slowed the spread, but the pot itself was still holding an inferno. ‘Oh gods, this place is gonna burn if I don’t do something!’ Water would do nothing to the fire considering the ingredients Selena had put into it. A lid could work, but the flame was much too large to approach without scalding her arm. Seeing no other options, Selena stripped her mercenary jacket and quickly tried to drape it over the fire. The jacket held strong as it quelled the fire, slowly smothering any air from the pot. The downside, Selena soo found, was that her favorite jacket had just become as useful as charcoal. She picked it up from the stove and surveyed the damage: one massive hole from where it had touched the fire, singes near the sleeves from the heat, and an odor of burnt cotton.

Felicia had stood aside throughout the ordeal after seeing how ineffective her magic had been towards the fire and was now apologizing profusely to Selena. “I’m so, so sorry! I just thought it’d go faster with a bit of heat!”

“A bit? You burned half the stove, Felicia!”

Felicia had no response for that it seemed, as she went silent for some time after that, only breaking it when small sobs sounded from her. “I’m so useless. Everytime I try and help something goes wrong! What kind of maid breaks and burns everything they touch?” She wiped the tears from her face and turned to the door to leave. “I’ll bring your jacket to Oboro, and don’t worry: I’ll pay for it since I burned it.”

But Felicia didn’t get a chance to leave. Selena grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. “You aren’t useless.”

“What?”

“You aren’t useless. We’ve gone over this, Felicia. I’ve seen you fight out on the battlefield and you’re one of the best at what you do. Who cares if you’re not the best maid we’ve got?”

“I do!” Felicia yelled, small tears forming again. “We have enough soldiers, especially now that we’re a united army!” A sniffle and a sob came. “I just wanna help clean for others.”

Selena refused to let go of the pink-haired maid, instead holding her tighter and gently patting her back. ‘I came here to cook, and now I’m comforting someone.’ She let out a small sigh. ‘Eh, I’ve had worse excuses for breaks.’ Selena finally released Felicia and pulled two chairs for them. The stew wouldn’t be ready for some time anyway, so they might as well just talk. Felicia was still crying, albeit much less than her initial breakdown.

They sat in silence for some time, the odd sob from Felicia sounding now and then. “Look,” Selena spoke, “I don’t know why you care about this whole maid thing so much-and I’m not sure I want to-but if it’s got you crying like this, then I’ll be your shoulder.”

Another sniffle. “Y-you’re very kind, Selena. No one really gives me attention to these kinda issues.” She gently laughed. “If anything, Jakob would reprimand me for opening up too much!”

“Yeah, well, Jakob’s an ass who makes good tea, and that’s it.” Selena poked Felicia on the chest. “You, on the other hand, are a caring person who puts their all into whatever you do.” She looked to the still burnt oven. “Even if you’d be better off not putting so much into it. But anyway, my point is: you’re a great person Felicia, and I’ll be there to help and support you whenever you need it. Believe me, there’s nothing I hate more than people getting dirt kicked in their faces when they’re already down.”

Felicia looked stunned by Selena’s words and said nothing before she broke into tears again and hugged Selena. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! No one besides Flora ever went this far to support me!”

“Gah! Ok, stop hugging me so tight! It’s cute and all, but I need some personal space!”

Selena was released from Felicia’s tight hug almost immediately after her request. “Cute? Did you say I’m cute?”

Selena stammered, her face as pink as Felicia’s hair. “W-what? N-no, um, dangit! Fine! I think you’re cute! Now don’t make me say it twice!”

Felicia didn’t ask anything of Selena, instead pulling her into another, more gentle hug. “Aww! Y’know, I wanted to say the same to you eventually, but I thought you’d just say no. I’m happy that we’re in the same boat though!” She sighed. “To be honest, I always thought you’d have higher standards than me.”

That would be step one for Selena: fixing Felicia’s incredibly low self-esteem. “I have no idea what you mean by that.” She pecked Felicia lightly on the cheek. “If anything, you’re going way further than most of my standards.”

Never before had Felicia’s face been so pink from embarrassment. Selena had heard how annoyed Niles was at Felicia’s rather innocent nature to his...dirtiness; yet all Selena had to do was make up for how little compliments the maid had missed out on.

Felicia finally calmed down enough to stammer out words. “I-I’m actually good for you?” She paused. “I feel so lucky right now; like nothing else could go wrong with you right here!”

“Yeah, well, I said I’d support you right? That’s what girlfriends are supposed to do.” Selena sat up and collected her charred shirt. “Now c’mon. We should probably tell your sister about our whole ordeal.” She stared at the black box at the back of the kitchen. “Gods know I’m not cleaning that stove.”

“Right behind you! Oh!” Felicia returned to the burnt stove and lifted the slow-cooking pot of meat, placing it onto a counter. “Don’t need a second fire, now do we?”

“Felicia, c’mon!” Selena shouted from the front. “I’ve got other stuff I wanna do today!” Selena didn’t know what to think. She’d come into her cooking duty with nothing but worry for Felicia burning the building down. She saw she was almost right, but she’d still been lucky enough to walk out with a girlfriend she’d support no matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> me@me: Pick a popular pairing for once  
> me: lol no  
> On a serious not, I'm getting more confident in my writing! As always, I appreciate any criticism.


End file.
